


silence is golden (and you've got my hopes up)

by warptimeandspace



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Study, M/M, Overheard Conversations, Post S6, actually talking with to your friends instead of ignoring them, addresses keith's age skip (two years for him one for team vld), keith lets lance VENT, lance isn't alone at the end, melancholy start happy ending, the ultimate space road trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 17:08:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15053876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warptimeandspace/pseuds/warptimeandspace
Summary: For Lance, flying Red across the galaxy is quiet.





	silence is golden (and you've got my hopes up)

For Lance, flying Red across the galaxy is quiet. The only being he shares his cockpit with is Kaltenecker and as much as Lance loves her, the cow is not a conversationalist. All he can do to simulate company is leave the coms on and listen to his teammates. They've paired off, their conversations stretching across space and into his ears. Lance would feel awkward listening to them in any other situation, like an intruder in somebody else’s airspace, but he’s been encouraged to keep the lines open. Every four to six hours somebody checks on him to make sure he’s still alright, still awake, still moving forward.  

 Hunk and Pidge chat about possible modifications to the Castle Ship 2.0. They consider kitchens with human food, wifi throughout the building, and current video game systems for the common room. Lance thinks later, when their conversation lulls, he’ll tell them about his recommendations. One of Lance’s personal priorities is bigger beds because beauty sleep is crucial for effective universe saving and his legs are _way_ too long for his old twin mattress. He wants to wallpaper his new wall with pictures too, old and new. He’ll get some printed photographs from his Earth family but Lance thinks he should also buy a Polaroid so he can take pictures of his new family too. Maybe more emergent but less fun is an improved infirmary. Their old infirmary was only useful in critical situations, leaving the team to scramble in case of moderate injuries. When Pidge broke her wrist there was almost nothing to stabilize it in their stores. When Hunk got sick there were no supportive medications on hand for his asthma. They need something more inclusive, all-encompassing for any medical need they could potentially encounter.

The conversation in the Blue is so different than that traveling from Green to Yellow that it makes Lance’s head spin. Romelle and Allura have been exchanging histories for days, attempting to link the old Altea to the new Colony. Every minute Lance listens to them his heart aches but he can’t bring himself to turn down the volume on their line because even as it hurts missing out on their history would hurt him more. Altea was beautiful and it is gone; The utopia of the colony is a lie but it still stands. The intersection between the two worlds is messy and complicated so the girls walk through it slowly. They thread the pieces Allura last remembers to the history that Romelle had been taught, with Coran chiming in whenever he remembers a detail more clearly than Allura. Listening to them it is evident that there will never be a complete history of Altea now that the Castle of Lions has been destroyed. Lance remembers being small, barely five years old, and hearing of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria for the first time. The loss of Altean knowledge, the legacy of millions of Altean lives, hits Lance in a similar way to Alexandria but the familiarity of Altea makes the loss stronger, makes Lance’s chest hurt as he thinks about everything destroyed. He can’t imagine what this feels like to Coran and Allura if it devastates him, who has only known Altea for three short years. Lance wishes he could turn back time for them, go back thousands of years and kick Zarkon’s ass before he could step into the Quintessence Field.

Lance would talk with Keith but he knows that Black is crowded at the moment. Their cockpit is the loudest by far, filled with the chatter of Krolia and Shiro catching each other up on Keith’s entire life. Every few hours Keith groans _“Dear god, please not that,”_  as Shiro says _“Hey Krolia, did Keith ever tell you about this?”_ Lance laughs because he’s missed both Keith and Shiro so much that their casual bickering kills him. Krolia tells baby stories of Keith teething, a terror that smacked her and Akira with furious little fists until they gave him frozen washcloths that he didn’t even put in his mouth, only held to the front of his face like a mask. Shiro counters with the disaster that was teaching Keith how to shave and the _Weeks of Razor Burn_ that followed his first three attempts.

“Hey Lance,” Keith says, his voice reaching over Kroila’s howling laughter, “You still doing okay?”

Lance breaths (in and out, foursquare style, just like his mama taught him) as Kaltenecker headbutts him in his chair. If he closes his eyes Lance can pretend that he isn't alone, that Keith is talking to him from inches away.

“Yeah,” He says, opening his eyes and dispelling the fantasy, “I’m all good.”

 

They don’t stop often. When Lance was twelve years old, telling his parents that he needed to be a pilot because he was born to touch the stars he did not think that it would be this cramped in space. Lance isn’t claustrophobic but he still feels _tight_ stuck in his chair all the time. He only has the space to pace about five steps, back and forth, around Kaltenecker and his chair but it doesn't put a dent into his restlessness. The closeness of it all is driving Lance a little bit crazy.

Kaltenecker grunts as Lance lays down on the floor beside her.

Two weeks in his lion is too long. Two weeks with only this cow for company is too long.

“Allura?” Lance calls from the cold metal floor. “When can we take a break? I’m like-- dying in here.”

“We’ll reach the rebel base where Matt is stationed in fifteen varga,” Allura offers. “Do you think you can manage until then?”

No, Lance doesn’t think he can, because he’s been stuck in this tiny room with a cow for almost two weeks and it’s killing him but there’s nowhere else practical to stop.

“I’ll be fine,” Lance says.

 

After they land Lance lays on the stubbly grass outside the rebel base for hours, breathing in the open air. This planet doesn’t smell anything like Earth. It’s moist and musty despite the fact that the ground Lance is laying is completely dry but it is fresh and open so Lance endures it. Even though Lance loves Red dearly he has no idea how he is going to endure the next six months confined to his lion.

Lance sighs, running his hands over his face. He should take advantage of the temporary access to running water but taking a shower would mean removing himself from this fresh air. Lance decides that it is alright to postpone his shower another fifteen minutes. He chooses to just lay still and breath until he feels more human. Lance rests his eyes as he inhales and exhales, trying to clear the staleness of recycled air from his lungs.

"Can I join you?"

Lance opens his eyes. Keith is crouching down beside him, old red jacket stretched tight over his newly grown shoulders. Lance isn't shocked that he didn't hear Keith walk up as the boots of Keith's Marmora uniform are designed to be silent and even without them, Keith has always been difficult for Lance to track.

Lance gestures to the grass beside him, "Sit," He invites, "I won't bite, promise."

Keith smiles faintly as he folds himself upon the grass, cross-legged and compact. Lance sits up to face him. Keith is different and the same at the same time. He still has awful hair, still has freckles under his chin that Lance has been dying to touch, and still looks at Lance with such fondness that it makes Lance's heart hurt. The similarities gloss over the differences, like  Keith's newfound three inches and the arching scar that covers half of his face.

"Hey there, Stranger," Lance says lightly like he hasn't been missing Keith for thirteen long months. "How've you been?"

"Been alright," Keith says, "You?"

Lance shrugs because he can't think of any other response that means _I'm okay, I made it, but all of our friends paired off into cliques so I've been alone forever and also there was a genocidal maniac kissing one of my other best friends and that was very stressful._ Keith seems to understand the general feeling either way.

"Weird question," He starts, "But when was the last time that you talked to me? Not the last time you saw me but the last time I messaged you."

Lance presses his lips together. He doesn't have to think about it, he knows from thirteen long months of worry.  "It was a little over a year ago," He says. "You told me you were going on a mission but that I shouldn't worry and that you would message again in a few days. I never heard from you again."

Keith cringes, “We got stuck in a space where time wasn’t right, the Quantum Abyss. I didn’t ever think that the mission would be more than a couple days. For me, it turned into a couple years. I wasn’t sure how long it had been for you guys. I’m sorry either way.”

Lance frowns. “How many years?”

Keith sighs. “Only two, I think. It got hard to track after a while. We were in and out of the present pretty frequently, seeing glimpses of other times as we moved.”

Lance would say that this time travel that Keith was proposing was unbelievable but he could see the change in him, more than just physical. Keith sat more confidently than he did before leaving the team, his shoulders level and strong. He seemed calmer too as if the time had smoothed him over to a degree.

“What did you see?” Lance asks.

Keith smiles. “The past came first; I saw Krolia find the blue lion for the first time, on Earth twenty some years ago. I saw her meet my dad. They fell in love quick, faster than I thought they would have. They had me and they were happy in a way I didn’t ever think they ever were when I thought about my parents when I was little. When I was a kid I was convinced that my mom had left because she hated me, not because she loved me but that wasn’t true. Krolia went back into space to protect my dad and I.” Keith pauses, smoothing his hands over the stubbly grass. “The future wasn’t what I thought it would be.”

The statement makes Lance panic, sending fear across his spine like lightning.

“Is it bad?” He asks quickly, “Because if cheesy sci-fi movies have taught me anything, it’s that the future isn’t set in stone.”

“No, no, it’s not like that.” Keith says, “I couldn’t ever dream that we would _win._ ”

 

They talk for hours. Lance catches Keith up on the last year and a half, a task nobody else has tackled yet and tells him about every moment since Keith stepped into a Marmora ship that flew away from Voltron. They talk about the rise of Lotor followed by the fall of Zarkon and about Oriande and Allura’s discovery of her past. They discuss Shiro’s clone replacement and how Lance knew that he wasn’t okay but he ignored his instincts because he thought it would be better for the team. For a little while Lance just vents, spewing fire about every time he was dismissed for “better ideas”, every time he was ignored, and every time Lance decided to go train instead of lobbying his case against Lotor. Finally, Lance talks about how it felt to be yanked from death back into life and have nobody mention it ever again.  Keith doesn’t understand, not exactly, but he listens like nobody else has listened in the past year.

After that, they turn somewhere lighter, Earth. Lance tries to give Keith verbal surfing lessons, knowing full well that when they do get to Earth he will be giving everyone on the team lessons. Keith talks about the house he grew up in, the house he still owns and gives Lance a tour with his eyes closed. Lance has missed this. Lance has missed them.

“--and that’s how I fell through the roof of my attic.” Keith finishes. “Shiro and I fixed it so it’s all safe and hole-less now though, promise.”

“I believe you,” Lance says,“I really missed you, you know that?”

Keith smiles, soft and small. “Yeah, I know.”

Lance rolls his eyes. “Is that all I get?”

Keith leans forwards, taking Lance’s face in his hands. Lance holds his breath because they are suddenly unbearably close. He can feel Keith’s breath. He could count Keith’s eyelashes if he wanted to. Lance thinks that he wants to.

“I missed you too,” Keith whispers.

Lance kisses him before Keith has the chance to say anything else.

 

When the time comes to climb back in Red for the next leg of their journey Lance doesn’t board alone. Shiro had been thrilled to take a turn flying Black, giving Keith the opportunity to accompany Lance in Red. Keith takes his turn at Red's controls first, relaxing as he sinks into the seat like coming home. Lance sits on the floor beside their chair, his arm resting against Keith's leg. No less than ten feet away from Lance's foot is Kaltenecker, asleep on the ground.

"You should tell me a story," Keith says, his eyes critically studying the space around them for a potential hidden danger. The day has been quiet and Lance doesn't expect any danger as this stretch of space is known for being quiet but if Keith is anything, he is vigilant.

"Why?" Lance asks.

Keith shrugs. "I don't know. I just like listening to you talk."

Lance feels his face warm in an unfamiliar but incredibly welcome way. He squeezes Keith's knee once and Keith gives him a smile that feels like fire.  "Okay," Lance says. "When I was four years old I almost flooded my entire apartment because I thought our turtle needed more water. She obviously did not. My mama _freaked out_ \--"

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> ahh how about that s6 am i right friends? i actually? enjoyed it? wanted to dropkick lotor the whole time but OTHER THAN THAT  
> title from: [talk too much by COIN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWxM_zLJGsU)  
> here is my [tumblr!](https://warptimeandspace.tumblr.com/) prompt me! chat about your favorite part of the season! come hang out!


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